Dimensions of communicative language teaching in online synchronous and face‐to‐face contexts: A comparison of student perceptions

Abstract This study compares learner perceptions in a synchronous online versus face‐to‐face (F2F) learning context about four principles of communicative language teaching (CLT): promoting collaborative learning, using comprehensible input, considering affective factors, and providing corrective feedback. Data were obtained via online surveys from students in F2F language classes ( n = 330) and synchronous online language classes ( n = 315). The results generally show high levels of agreement between the two groups with statements pertaining to the implementation of all four principles, suggesting that overall, participants perceived the two learning contexts to be similar to one another. However, results reveal that for particular dimensions of these principles, students in the two contexts disagreed (small to medium effect sizes), indicating depressed levels of agreement for learners in the online context. We discuss how these areas of disagreement serve as an opportunity for enhancement of the implementation of specific components of CLT in online synchronous settings.